Affiliation:
1. University of Minnesota
Abstract
Abstract
Pandemic fatigue emerged early during the COVID-19 pandemic and remains a concern as new variants emerge and ongoing public health measures are needed to control them. A wide range of factors can affect pandemic fatigue, but empiric research indicating which may be most important to adherence in specific populations is lacking. Here we report results from a longitudinal study of physical distancing, in which we found that changes in contact rates over time differed according to several sociodemographic characteristics. Meaningful effects emerged along lines of age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, household composition, and access to transportation. Furthermore, the factors influencing the rate of change in contact rates differed by the type or setting of the contact, for example contacts as a result of visiting another person’s home versus during a retail outing. These results provide evidence for potential mechanisms by which pandemic fatigue has resulted in lower physical distancing adherence.
Publisher
Research Square Platform LLC
Reference40 articles.
1. Pandemic Fatigue: Facing the Body’s Inexorable Demands in the Time of COVID-19;Zerbe KJ;J. Am. Psychoanal. Assoc.,2020
2. COVID-19 pandemic response fatigue in Africa: causes, consequences, and counter-measures;Ilesanmi OS;Pan Afr. Med. J.,2020
3. Mask use, risk-mitigation behaviours and pandemic fatigue during the COVID-19 pandemic in five cities in Australia, the UK and USA: A cross-sectional survey;MacIntyre CR;Int. J. Infect. Dis.,2021
4. A worldwide assessment of changes in adherence to COVID-19 protective behaviours and hypothesized pandemic fatigue;Petherick A;Nat. Hum. Behav.,2021
5. Goldstein, P., Levy Yeyati, E. & Sartorio, L. Lockdown Fatigue: The Diminishing Effects of Quarantines on the Spread of COVID-19. https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/37369329/2021-02-cid-wp-391-covid-lockdown-fatigue.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y (2021).